Former Vietnamese Miss Universe delegates remove international pageant from socmed profiles
Former Miss Universe Vietnam titleholders H’Hen Nie (left) and Kim Duyen Nguyen/ARMIN P. ADINA
A day after the 74th Miss Universe pageant press conference in Thailand, beauty queens who have previously represented neighboring Vietnam in the international pageant edited their social media profiles, removing the global tilt from their credentials.
Among those who took out their involvement in the Miss Universe pageant was H’Hen Nie, who endeared herself to fans all over the world, including Filipinos, with her Cinderella story and impactful onstage performance in the 2018 contest held in Bangkok. She finished in the Top 5, with the Philippines’ Catriona Gray taking home the crown.
The move came after Nawat Itsaragrisil, Miss Grand International president and organizer of the 2025 Miss Universe pageant in Thailand, made scathing remarks about newer competitions that seem to be copying the more established global tilt.
“I don’t care anyone still getting born, come to fighting with us. I’m ready too. And please, do not copy Miss Universe. Miss Universe is only one, one and only with Miss Grand International,” he said during a press conference held in Bangkok on Thursday afternoon, March 13.
Itsaragrisil did not directly mention any other pageant or personality that he was alluding to. But the founder of the new Vietnam-based international pageant Miss Cosmo, Hoang “Henry” Tran Viet Bao, posted a message to his followers after the Thai personality delivered his statement.
“Thank you to the 230k people (and many more from other platforms) who have been with Miss Cosmo since the beginning. I truly believe this number will keep GROWING as the world changes, and audiences are now looking for platforms and content that offer real value, empowerment, inspiration and impactful beauty,” the Vietnamese pageant owner said.
In his address, Itsaragrisil also alluded to a certain woman who used to be part of the Miss Universe Organization. “Some person moving there, some person want to try, some person, she was working with Miss Universe, but she won’t survive. So she fly around the world to stay somewhere to copy Miss Universe. Sorry, we are so far, well, I cannot see you anymore,” he said.
In the Miss Cosmo pageant’s inaugural staging in Vietnam last year, Tran Viet Bao invited former Miss Universe President Paula Shugart to sit in the judging panel, along with 2021 Miss Universe Harnaaz Sandhu from India, the last woman to be crowned under IMG’s ownership.
Thai mogul Anne Jakrajutatip of JKN Global Group bought the entire Miss Universe Organization in 2022, with Shugart retaining her post, and Sandhu set to crown her successor. The erstwhile president announced her resignation during the 2023 competition.
In 2024, Jakrajutatip collaborated with Raul Rocha of Legacy Holdings Group in Mexico to share equal ownership of the organization. The pageant was held in his home country in the same year, with the staging heavily panned by viewers around the world.
Tran Viet Bao, in assembling his international pageant last year, invited former and current Miss Universe license holders to send delegates. He also tapped Vietnamese beauty Kim Duyen Nguyen, who was a 2021 Miss Universe semifinalist and 2022 Miss Supranational runner-up, to be one of the judges, while Nie served as an ambassador for the new contest.
Nguyen was also one of the beauty queens from Vietnam who removed any association with the global pageant on social media. She, however, retained her accomplishment in the Miss Supranational pageant. She and Nie were both products of the Miss Universe Vietnam pageant when it was still handled by Tran Viet Bao’s Saigon Universe Corp. (Unicorp).
The Miss Universe pageant will hold its 74th edition in November in Thailand, the fourth time that the Southeast Asian country will host the international competition. About 130 delegates from around the world are expected to participate. Victoria Kjӕr Theilvig, the first winner from Denmark, will relinquish the crown to her successor.
